Déjà vu (Oh, the Irony)
by Catflower Queen
Summary: Jirachi comes to the Wigglytuff Guild for a visit, and inadvertently grants a wish with some interesting consequences for Team Rainbow. After all, it's one thing to know, mentally, that Paula and Laura are rather young for being such being good explorers. But this... this is something else entirely. Also, Drowzee gets a new appreciation for the meaning of the word "irony."
1. Bidoof's Wish

**Author's notes: This is somewhat of a new series of stories that I'm going to attempt, but don't expect updates too often, as I'm still getting back into the swing of creative writing. Also, with this story in particular… don't expect updates for at least the next two weeks, because I have a lot of major papers due for school soon as the semester is ending, as well as paperwork to grade, and I already spent today writing this when I really should have been working on those instead.**

**This is technically non-canon for the eventual storyline I have planned, but all backgrounds and histories—both for the characters and for specific locations/things discovered through use of the Dimensional Scream ability—are the same as those in the World's Treasure and Missing Scenes series—it's just that this is not the method in which those histories and backstories are going to be revealed when it comes to that point in actual canon. …assuming I eventually find the time to actually write said canon out. I still want to! I'm just continually busy with other things, because Real Life is complicated. Also, I have some stories in another fandom that I want to write as well.**

**As this technically takes place in the future of the TWT and MS universe, there are a few things that might be spoilers. I'll try to be vague in the story to avoid that as much as possible, but I can't guarantee that some things won't slip through.**

**Check the author's notes at the end if you want a bit of background for what exactly is going on in this universe at the time of this non-canon scenario. Otherwise, please enjoy the story.**

* * *

"Are you two sure you're up for this already?" Chatot asked, glancing between the two girls of Team Rainbow with a look of concern on his face.

It wasn't the first time they had been asked this question today. Even though the… incident… with the outlaw known as the "Dreamy Blackmailer" had finally resolved and Laura was given a clean bill of health by Nurse Blissey from Magnezone's Police Headquarters, and then taken an additional week off to try and heal a bit mentally, their friends throughout Treasure Town and the Guild were still concerned. After all, not only had the incident had brought both of them face to face with some of their worst nightmares—literally speaking—it hadn't happened too long after the Weathered Peak expedition. And while no one had been in the best of spirits after that expedition, what with the overwhelming failure to actually find anything of interest aside from a new definition of "extreme weather phenomenon" and, in Chatot's case, a rather horrifying lesson from an injured and delirious Laura about the myriad of ways that one could construct prison cells and stockades from repurposed caves and rock formations, Paula and Laura had definitely been hit the hardest. Sure, Chatot was a close contender for that position, what with the aforementioned front row seat to that lesson on prison cells and stockades, but Laura had been the one to actually suffer the injury and the experience of reliving some terrible memories during an expedition she hadn't really wanted to go on in the first place; and Paula had to endure what was technically blackmail—and from the Guildmaster, of all people!—which forced her to be split from her partner during the exploration, meaning that she wasn't there to stop her from getting injured or provide moral support in the aftermath, compounded with the fact that the lack of treasure meant that they had gone through all that pain for nothing. Or at least close to nothing, since even though the goal of the blackmail—to get Laura and Chatot to spend some time alone together so that they could clear the air between them, make up from their recent fight, and get back on friendly terms—had technically worked, even Wigglytuff agreed that it really wasn't worth it when the price had been injury and trauma on one hand and betrayal and worry on the other. He still felt guilty about it now—especially since the memory of the blackmail probably did not help Paula at all during the aforementioned Dreamy Blackmailer debacle—even though Paula, Laura, and Chatot had forgiven him for it.

Suffice to say, Team Rainbow had really been put through the ringer lately, so it wouldn't have been surprising if they weren't quite ready to get back to exploring yet. Then again, this w_as_ Team Rainbow they were talking about, who had the unfortunate tendency to downplay any problems they were having via overworking themselves in an attempt to get people to stop worrying about them. Which of course just made people worry about them even more.

But at least it meant that Paula's response of "Yes. We'll be fine—don't worry!" as she adjusted her treasure bag, her partner nodding beside her from where she was just finishing up a swap with Croagunk, didn't come as a surprise.

So it was with a resigned sigh that Chatot finally waved them off with only a minor admonishment to be careful, and the two ascended from the lowest guild level in order to head off on a day of exploring. But he couldn't help but follow them with his gaze, and once they left his line of sight his eyes still lingered a bit on the top of the ladder before he blinked and shook his head, determined to put the inevitable worry he still felt out of his mind and get back to work running the guild. Today, after all, he also had the additional task of preparing some informational pamphlets for Drowzee to look at in regards to how to manage an exploration team. He didn't actually expect the Hypnosis Pokémon to arrive in town from the little exploration he had decided to undertake as a sort of goodbye to being a solo explorer until tomorrow—or possibly later tonight, at the earliest, in which case it would likely still be too late for him to actually have time to meet with Chatot—but it never hurt o be prepared.

He sighed again before glancing about, noticing that everyone else who was with him on the lower level was in the same boat, despite their attempts to hide their true feelings. Croagunk was determinedly looking down and organizing his items in pure silence, with none of his usual mutterings and praise towards his prized Swap Cauldron. Loudred was attempting to use a stage whisper—with an emphasis on "attempting"—to get Diglett to let him know when Team Rainbow fully left the premises, even though Diglett's job was only to monitor those coming in rather than those leaving, since determining moving footprints wasn't an easy task. Wigglytuff had his door cracked open, and his mouth was quivering, as if it wanted to form into an uncharacteristic frown.

This, Chatot determined, was where he should focus his energies for the time being, as an upset Wigglytuff was never a good thing. It would also be a good segue into preparing those pamphlets for Drowzee, as a seasoned explorer such as Wigglytuff would be sure to have some good advice for the ex-outlaw, especially considering his own past as the apprentice of an explorer with a history as an outlaw. But before he could start to make his way over, he was interrupted by Bidoof coming down the ladder with a very perturbed look on his face.

"Bidoof? What are you doing back down here?" Chatot asked, equally as thankful for the interruption as he was annoyed at the fact that the apprentice was ignoring his orders. "I thought that I told you to look over the job boards today."

Bidoof cringed at the glare on Chatot's face, even though it wasn't at its usual levels of scariness. "Oof… Sorry Chatot, I.. I really would like to do that but…"

"'But?'" Chatot sharply prompted.

"But… but the boards are both empty, by golly!"

"Squawk! What? What do you mean they're _empty_?!"

"There's… there's no jobs left on them, no siree!" Bidoof shook his head, "I think Team Rainbow took most of them for themselves… and then the other teams hanging around took the rest of them… and by the time I got there, there was only an S-class outlaw job left… which I don't think I'm ready for anyways… but then Team Poochy snatched it right out of my paws before I even got the chance to look at it too closely, yup yup!"

"That's…" Chatot got a twitch beneath his eye before sighing in defeat. The sequence of events was extremely plausible, as unfortunate as it was—especially the part about Team Rainbow grabbing the majority of the jobs from the boards before anyone else got the chance. Chatot could remember very well that same scenario happening shortly after Laura asked her goddess' permission to stay in the Pokémon World, rather than return with her to Earth… and even before then, there was that incident with Laura right after she returned from wherever she had been after the future was saved. Add Paula's exuberance and love of exploring into the mix—especially when she, too, was trying to convince everyone that she was actually fine and recovered—and it was practically a given that the two would ignore the guidelines for how many requests that a single team should realistically take on at once. It wasn't that they _couldn't_ do all of those jobs successfully, but more that they _shouldn't_. Although Chatot did appreciate the influx in treasures, bounty, and reward money that it generated for the guild, it was a bit inconsiderate to the other exploration teams that would come to the Wigglytuff Guild specifically for the use of the boards, not to mention that it denied those still apprenticing in the guild the chance at a little training. Also, it left them all worrying over the two girls' mental and physical health even more, since they had all seen the consequences of their overworking themselves in this manner many, many times. It made Chatot consider, not for the first time, the possibility of him and Wifflytuff setting up a board specifically for Team Rainbow's exclusive use, just so that the two could ensure their precious graduates safety and wellbeing. But on the other wing, he supposed that it rather defeated the point of their having graduated if he and the Guildmaster were still regulating what the two could and could not do…

But all of that was something to consider at a future point in time. He would definitely have a little talk with the two of the two members of Team Rainbow when they finally returned to town at the end of the day, but for now he needed to figure out something else for Bidoof to do.

"Very well," he said, "I suppose I can't exactly fault you for that, so for now why don't you—"

But he was cut off by a surprised exclamation from Loudred over by the sentry post. "WHAT?!" he yelled, before hollering again, "Hey, BIDOOF! Diglett says you have a VISITOR at the entrance!"

"A visitor?!" Bidoof repeated in surprise as he and Chatot headed over. "Golly, that's sure a surprise! Who is it?"

Loudred turned to call back down to Diglett, intending to ask for more information "HEY Diglett—!"

"Yes, I heard!" Diglett called back up before Loudred got the chance to finish his question. "Give me just a moment… Okay. He says that he is… Jirachi!"

"W-WHAT?! J-Jirachi?!" Loudred and Chatot repeated incredulously. "Wh-Why would Jirachi come here? And to meet _Bidoof,_ of all pokémon?"

Bidoof frowned in confusion. "Jirachi… Jirachi… do I know a Jirachi…? Maybe… oh!" He smiled as he finally remembered. "Diglett! Ask him if he's the one from Star Cave!"

Then, the others understood as well, remembering the Snover incident from so long ago, when Bidoof took the initiative to go on an ill-advised and technically against the rules trip to Star Cave after having been tricked by Snover, and how he was able to explore the depths all on his own after the rest of the guild rescued him, culminating in his meeting with the legendary Wish Pokémon. He never did them what he ended up wishing for, though—only that it was granted, but the effects would take a while to actually manifest. There had been some wild speculation running through the guild for a while, until the incident was nearly forgotten in the excitement over Team Rainbow joining the guild a few months later.

"The answer is… yes!" Diglett called back in excitement. "This is the Jirachi from Star Cave!"

"Well don't just STAND there!" Loudred whipped around and demanded of Bidoof. "Go up and MEET him! And then bring him down HERE so we can see him, too!"

* * *

A few minutes later saw Jirachi in the bottom-most level of the guild. He didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he had amassed an audience, as all of the apprentices who were left in the guild (which ended up being everyone but Dugtrio, basically, as he was out getting more job requests in order to fill up the boards while the others were stuck waiting for his return since they, like, Bidoof, had been a bit too slow to pick any before Laura and Paula nabbed them all). Instead, when he wasn't turning this way and that as he levitated, taking in all the sights, he was focused on his friend.

"Ooh… This place is really interesting!" Jirachi told Bidoof in excitement. "If it's always like this, then I can see why you like exploring so much, Bidoof. I thought that I would be tired after journeying all this way, but the energy surrounding this place is so exciting! It's perking me right up!"

"Yup, yup! The guild is pretty great!" Bidoof agreed with a smile. "And… gosh, it sure is nice to see you again Jirachi… I must admit, I've been meaning to come see you for a while now… I wanted to thank you for granting that wish for me, but it's been so busy that I never had the time to!"

Jirachi smiled. "Ha ha… That's all right, Bidoof. With a wish like yours… it's only to be expected that you would be too busy to find the time to visit. And… I've been sleeping a lot again lately, so I may not have noticed even if you did come by," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "But that wish of yours… well, it's not exactly why I came by, but now I'm curious; where are those buddies of yours you wished for? Have you been teaching them lots?"

Bidoof blushed a bit, slightly embarrassed about the fact that everyone in the guild now more or less knew what he wished for so long ago, but he also couldn't help but smile at the thought of his friends on Team Rainbow. "They're out exploring right now! They already graduated from the guild, see, and… well, gosh, I don't know how much of it is do to anything I taught them, but… I'm real proud of Team Rainbow, yup yup! It was so much fun to be with them when they were still apprentices, and they still live nearby so I get to see Laura and Paula nearly every day!"

Jirachi's mouth formed an "o" of shock. "Did you say that one of the buddies I influenced to come here was… Laura? Of Team Rainbow? That's what you said, right?" He looked around at the others, verifying if what he'd heard was correct.

"Hey, hey! That's what he said, alright!" Corphish nodded

"Oh, wow, wow!" Jirachi clapped his hands and spun in excitement. "That's great! That's actually exactly why I came in the first place!"

"Oh, oh?" Wigglytuff asked. "You wanted to meet friendly-friend Laura? Why?"

"You see, I don't really get out much," Jirachi admitted, to the surprise of no one, "so I'm a little… or, rather, a lot… behind the times when it comes to some things… or, really, a lot of things… but… sometimes while I'm dreaming, my psychic powers act up a little, and I hear whispers of conversations. Rumors. And sometimes they're really interesting! So, I wake up in excitement! But… I don't really have a way to know if these rumors are true, since I live so out of the way, and travelling can get so tiring so I usually just fall back to sleep." He huffed a bit in frustration before brightening again. "But! This time! This time I heard some rumors about a girl named Laura… who joined an exploration team called Rainbow… who is currently a treecko, but who some say used to be a human!" He paused again to clap and spin with excitement. "So I just had to know if they were true. I _had_ to! And I remembered! This time I had a way to verify those rumors! You, Bidoof!"

"H-huh? Me?!"

"Yes! You told that you were a part of a guild—and not just any guild, the Wigglytuff Guild! That place—this place—has tons of information, right? And tons of explorers! And _you_! My friend! So I thought… if I came here… I could verify the rumors! And that hopefully…" Jirachi got quieter, and seemed almost wistful. "Hopefully… hopefully some of them would be true. And that it would mean… well, it would mean what I hoped. That they… that she… well. I'd better not say… just in case I'm wrong… I don't want to get my hopes up _too_ much."

"Well… golly! I'm honored, Jirachi!" Bidoof said, slightly nervous about potentially disappointing his powerful friend, but still hopeful that he would be able to help, and happy to get the chance to ramble on about Laura, and Team Rainbow in general. "So let's see… Laura… well, first off—yup yup! The Laura that I know, who joined Team Rainbow and the guild here… she really did used to be a human!" Bidoof verified. Then, when Jirachi's grin turned from wistful back to gleeful, he decided to add, "She is a treecko right now, but she surely did used to be a human, yup yup! And we even got to see her human form for a little bit, too! I don't know to much about humans in general, but I thought she was really pretty, so I reckon other humans would think so too. Especially her eyes—they looked like rainbows, and still do even though she's back to being a treecko now, yup yup."

"Oh… oh…!" Jirachi clasped his hands in front of his mouth, his eyes widening and starting to shine with unshed tears of joy. "And… and one more thing! Did she… does she… the Dimensional Scream? Is that an ability she possesses?"

"Yup yup! It surely is!"

"Hooray!" Jirachi exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and spinning in ecstasy, laughing as happy tears escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. "Finally… finally a Rainbow Child is visiting again!" He slowed down his spinning, sighing wistfully again as he slowly calmed down. "It's been… so very long. I know I slept through most of it, but… it must have been nearly a thousand years since I last… since s_he _last…" he sighed again, this time in resignation. "But… you said that she's out exploring now, right? So I guess that means I'll still need to wait a while to actually see her again…"

"Oof… I reckon that's true," Bidoof said, frowning at sad his friend sounded about that fact, and feeling bit sad himself at the thought of how long Jirachi had waited to see the Rainbow Child return, even as he was shocked at the timespan and surprised at the fact that Laura's past incarnations apparently used to visit the pokémon world a lot… as well as curiosity and unease about the fact that they had apparently stopped some thousand years ago.

"Oh!" Wigglytuff suddenly explained, clapping his hands together. "I know! I know! Bidoof, while we wait for Team Rainbow to come back… why don't you show Jirachi around Treasure Town? Give him a tour! It will be fun!

"Ah! Yes, guildmaster, I concur!" Chatot agreed with the flap of his wings. "That is an excellent idea! And while you're there… as I was about to say earlier… Regarding the day's duties, since Dugtrio is not yet back with replacement jobs… please do a survey of the shops in town; it is important to know which get the most use from the members of our esteemed guild, and in what ways… and if any of them will be offering new services soon which we should be aware of."

"Oof… I, uh… yes siree, I will do that," Bidoof said, his happy mood at the thought of getting to show Jirachi around town becoming slightly dampened by the fact that it wouldn't be a day off, like he'd thought, but rather an exercise in multitasking. "Come on, Jirachi, I think I'll show you Spinda's Café first…"

With that, the two headed off, and Chatot set the rest of the guild to do some mild cleaning and reorganizing until Dugtrio finally made it back and they could do some real exploration work.

* * *

Team Rainbow still wasn't back by the time that Bidoof's tour/survey was completed. This was a bit surprising, as the whole endeavor had taken a bit longer that Bidoof anticipated, since Jirachi stopped frequently to either admire something or because he needed to rest a little bit before continuing. He was, after all, a sleepy pokémon in general, and hadn't been lying about how long his journey had been. Some of the things he stopped to admire seemed a bit mundane by Bidoof's standards, but if he really had been sleeping for nearly a thousand years, then he figured that it would make sense that Jirachi would have missed an invention or innovation or two that was commonplace now. …Though he wasn't sure if that fully explained why the legendary seemed so enamored by the dandelions dotting the path in some places. Surely those existed for far longer, right?

In any case, the tour was also lengthened by the fact that many of the shopkeepers seemed ecstatic to talk about their shops and wares, especially the Kecleon brothers… and Marowak, who seemed to take the opportunity as a chance to test out the new pitches he was considering to entice more pokémon to come train at his dojo… but Bidoof figured that at least part of that was excitement over seeing a legendary wandering through town. The last time that had happened had been with Cresselia, after all, and while it had been fairly recent, the circumstances surrounding it had… not been the greatest. By the time that Bidoof was finally finished and ready to report back to Chatot, Jirachi was understandably bored and uninterested in hearing a bunch of information that he'd already heard throughout the day. So, he opted to go visit the Beach for a while instead. He seemed weirdly excited by the prospect, too, but Bidoof figured that it had something to do with Laura, or the Rainbow Child in general, so he let it go without too much comment. He invited Jirachi to come have dinner with the guild when he was finished at the Beach, but Jirachi declined, citing interest in seeing what the Café's menu was like in the evening. Though he did promise to come and stay at the guild for the evening if Team Rainbow still wasn't back by then.

So this is why, when Jirachi failed to return to the guild like he promised a few hours later, long after dinner was finished and with still no sign of Team Rainbow, Bidoof found himself heading towards the Beach, intent on finding the legendary. Dinner had been a bit earlier than usual today, so the sun hadn't yet fully set and he found the Wish Pokémon fairly easily. Unfortunately for Bidoof, the reason that said pokémon hadn't returned to the guild yet was because he—rather predictably, in hindsight—had fallen asleep. So then Bidoof was faced with the somewhat arduous task of waking him back up.

One fight and several bruises on Bidoof's part later, and a more-or-less awake Jirachi was yawning drowsily and looking around at his surroundings in mild confusion. "Hah… yawn… Ah, I'm still on the Beach…?"

"Erg…" Bidoof groaned a little, "Yup yup… I reckon you fell asleep here."

"Oh… right… I was going to head over to the Café, but I felt so tired that I decided to rest for just a little bit longer… and then… well." Jirachi said, blinking, as he finally noticed Bidoof. He easily spotted the bruising and ruffled fur, and had the tact to look sheepish as he put two and two together. "I must have attacked you in my sleep, huh?" he guessed. "But I see that you managed to wake me up again, so that's good! I… probably owe you another wish for the trouble," he finished, the last part in a mutter.

"H-huh?" Bidoof said, a bit confused before it clicked what Jirachi meant. "Oh! No, no, that's fine," Bidoof shook his head. "I don't really need anything. But… you said that you wanted to stay in the guild if Team Rainbow didn't come back in time, right? And, well, they're still not back yet, so…"

"They're still not back?" Jirachi tilted his head. "Is it normal for them to be out exploring so late?"

Bidoof shook his head, a frown on his face. "No siree, it really isn't…" He sighed in sadness. "To tell you the truth, everyone at the guild… we're all really worried about them. Some real stressful stuff has happened to the two of them recently, and I reckon that working hard like this is probably the only real way they know to cope with it, but… golly, it just isn't right!" He stomped his foot in frustration. "It's so unfair… all of these stressful and trying things seem to happen to them… the whole Temporal Tower thing from years ago… the thing with Darkrai… the _other_ thing with Darkrai… and then what's been going on recently… and they're still so young! Paul is only sixteen… and Laura is just _fourteen_… and… golly, I know exploring is really fun for them, but with all the other stuff… sometimes I just…" Bidoof's frustration simmered down a bit and he sighed mournfully.

"What is it, Bidoof?" Jirachi asked, worry and empathy on his face for both his friend and the plight of Team Rainbow.

Bidoof sighed again, looking down at his feet. "Sometimes… I wish that the two of them had the chance to just be _kids_ again. Even if just for a little while…"

At those words, Jirachi twitched a little as something resonated inside him. "I see," he said, his eyes starting to take on a faraway look. "Bidoof… you never fail to amaze me. Of all the possible wishes in the world… all of the things people have asked me for before… and you always, always choose not to be greedy; you always choose to help others… it makes me like you even more!"

"I… wait. What?" Bidoof asked, blinking in confusion and looking up before cringing back in shock at the sight of Jirachi, who was floating even higher in the air than he typically did, eyes glowing.

"And I suppose, technically, this is my fault a bit, too," Jirachi said, more to himself than to Bidoof, in a voice that seemed to echo slightly with power. "I could have chosen someone other than Paula to nudge in the direction of the guild… and if I'd been more aware… I could have eased that poor girl's suffering… and maybe the visits wouldn't have stopped… or if not, I could have spent those years preparing… I could have done something to ease the suffering of the last one, instead of wallowing in loneliness… I'm the selfish one this time, so really…"

Jirachi tilted backwards as his eyes slowly closed… but as they did so, the one on his stomach—which Bidoof hadn't even known existed—opened instead, brimming with even more light and power. But its owner took no notice.

"Really…" he repeated, as his true eye fully opened. "Granting this wish… it's the _least_ I could do!

Bidoof screamed and slammed his own eyes shut as the brightness spilling out of Jirachi's true eye grew to blinding, and the wave of power that Jirachi unleashed was so huge that Bidoof briefly lost his footing. He thought he heard a thump as something fell to the sand, but other than that… there was stillness and quiet for a few minutes before Bidoof dared to risk opening his eyes again to try and figure out what happened. He glanced around… and then immediately jumped to his feet with a cry of alarm when he saw that Jirachi was facedown on the sand, shaking with the aftereffects of whatever he had just unleashed.

"Jirachi!" Bidoof called, rushing over and helping him to sit up. "Are you okay?! What just… what just happened?! What did you do?!"

"Oh… Bidoof…" Jirachi slurred, one of his regular eyes cracking open lazily. "I think I… ngh… I think I… overdid it… a little…"

"Overdid… what?! What just… what just happened?!"

"That wish… sigh… it was… really good… but… really draining. I think… sigh… I think I need to sleep for a while again. I should wake up soon… to fulfill the rest of it, but… yawn… until then… please take care of me… _zzz_. _Zzz_…"

And with that, Jirachi fell asleep. He was so completely dead to the world that even his psychic powers were inactive, and nothing Bidoof tried could wake him up. He had no choice but to struggle and shift Jirachi onto his back so that he could carry him to the guild, all the while wondering what exactly just happened, and getting a sense of foreboding that he'd accidentally done something wrong…

* * *

"…I see," Chatot said, glancing at where Jirachi lay asleep—and drooling a little bit—on the bed in the room at the end of the hall where they'd placed him after Bidoof had returned, shouting frantically about there being trouble. He'd had to shoo everyone else except Wigglytuff away because, as usual, the other apprentices were too nosy for their own good, but after doing so he'd had Bidoof recount exactly what happened to leave Jirachi in this state.

"And you have no idea what happened when that power was unleashed?" he confirmed. "Or why Jirachi even did… whatever it is he did… in the first place?"

Bidoof looked uncomfortable as he shook his head. "No! No siree, I have no idea! I'm just as lost as you are! Except…" he paused.

"Except…?" Chatot prompted.

"Well… last time… when I met Jirachi the first time in Star Cave… he told me that he granted wishes to those who managed to wake him up. And… and when I found him on the Beach, I had to wake him up so that I could bring him back here, so… so I reckon that maybe he counted that, too? As fulfilling those conditions?"

"I see…" Chatot murmured, nodding to himself, "that makes sense… So then that power… I would assume that means…" he raised his voice back to normal levels and asked, "Did you make a wish? Or say something that could be interpreted as such?"

"Oh, gosh… uh… I don't think so… lemme think…" Bidoof started muttering to himself and pacing, trying to push past the worry and remember what it was that he said right before Jirachi went all strange and glowy. "I said that… and then there was that… and then Paula and Laura came up and… and… oh." Bidoof stopped dead in his tracks. "I think… uh… oh golly, I think I made a big mistake…" he whimpered.

"Don't worry Bidoof, it can't be _that_ bad!" Wigglytuff assured him. "What happened? What did you say to friendly-friend Jirachi?"

"I j-just…" Bidoof gulped, before continuing, "I was just talking about how worried we've all been since Team Rainbow has been under a lot of stress lately… and I was frustrated today, especially, since they still aren't back yet after taking on so much… and I was saying how it was so unfair considering how young they are… so I uh, I may have accidentally told Jirachi that 'sometimes I wish that the two of them had the chance to just be—'"

But the end of his inadvertent wish was cut off when the three of them heard shouts of alarm coming from the main area.

"Eek! Oh my gosh!"

"What in the…?!"

"Hey, hey! What the heck?!"

"Dad, why are… how can…?!"

"Is that…?"

"What in the WORLD is going on here?!"

The three of them rushed out just in time to hear a voice which they hadn't expected to hear until tomorrow begging, "H-hey, can everyone please calm down a little bit? Or at least your voices? You're scaring them!"

"Squawk! What is going on out here?!" Chatot demanded.

"Chatot!" Drowzee, who had indeed arrived a day early and stopped in at the guild despite the late hour, answered brightly, looking highly relieved to see him. For some reason, he had Team Rainbow's treasure bag slung over his shoulder, and in his right hand…

"I know I'm early… and I wasn't planning on stopping in so late, "Drowzee started to explain, a bit of suppressed panic mixed in with the awkwardness he still often felt around the guild members, despite everything that they'd been through together recently, "but there was… I ran into, uh, a bit of a problem as I was heading into to town, and I'm really, really hoping that you know how to fix it," he finished, glancing down a bit to the right as he did so.

Chatot followed his gaze, and was then dumbstruck by what he saw. "But that's… what is… what?" he demanded. "I just… what?"

In Drowzee's right hand was held the hand of another… and this hand belonged to a human. She was tiny, Chatot supposed, at least compared to the last human he'd seen. Her outfit, a cute little dress with matching leggings, was… well, he could tell that it would have been white, if not for the grass and dirt stains covering it. Her hair was equally white, rather than the brown that he would have expected, considering the girls eyes—which were the familiar, rainbow-colored ones belonging to his dear friend and precious graduate…

She looked like she was relaxing a bit after holding herself tense—likely in response to the yelling earlier—and she looked around, making small noises of excitement as her smile grew and grew. She spotted him and gasped in wonder, leaning forward and unconsciously trying to tug her hand out of Drowzee's grasp, as if she wanted to dash forward and get a closer look at the pretty, talking bird in front of her. But she couldn't really make any serious attempts to do so, as her other hand—and the attached arm—were too occupied holding onto a tiny, adorable, pichu who was teary-eyed and sniffling, periodically turning her head to hide her face in the human's collar.

That combination… an electric-type rodent with a human companion… appearing at the guild around the same time that Team Rainbow was expected back… Team Rainbow's treasure bag in Drowzee's grasp… it couldn't be… and yet…!

"Drowzee… is this… are they…?" Chatot couldn't quite formulate the question, his voice sounding strangled from sheer disbelief in spite of the fact that there was no denying the proof in front of him.

"Yeah…" Drowzee nodded, still feeling shocked himself at the situation. "I happened to meet Team Rainbow at the crossroads when I was headed into town, and then while we were talking, Laura and Paula… they suddenly turned into… well. This."

Chatot was struck silent, but Wigglytuff was finally able to break his own as he turned to Bidoof and asked, "So… what was it, exactly, that you said to Jirachi?"

"Th-that…" Bidoof whispered, shaking his head at the sheer absurdity of the situation "that sometimes…. I wish that the two of them had the chance to just be _kids_ again."

No one had a response. The entire guild was silent as they all took his words in…

…and then, with a singular voice, Drowzee, Chatot, and the other apprentices all screamed, "_YOU DID __**WHAAAAAAAT**__?_!"

* * *

**Author's Notes: Important background for this story: This takes place when Laura is about 14 and Paula is about 16. The two girls have recently had some very emotional things happen to them recently, with the most notable things being Laura getting injured and then trapped in a cave with Chatot during an exploration to a place that she already had some mixed emotions about in the first place. Throughout this Paula was upset that; first off, Laura and Chatot hadn't been getting along recently; secondly, in a somewhat misguided attempt to get his friends to get along again, Wigglytuff pulled rank and declared that Laura and Chatot had to explore together, alone, so Paula wasn't there to stop Laura from getting hurt or help her through the emotional memories; and thirdly that—inevitable successful reconciliation between Chatot and Laura aside—it was all for nothing since no one even found any treasure anyways.**

**The second big emotional thing to happen was that some outlaw with the ability to travel through dreams—so probably, like, a gengar or some other ghost- or psychic-type—struck Treasure Town while Laura was away visiting Mason/recovering from the recent emotional stress and started plaguing everyone with nightmares and diving into their subconscious thoughts in order to acquire blackmail material (which is part of why they were able to stay at large for so long). This of course includes Paula, who was probably among the primary targets since her fame and notoriety would have been too enticing to pass up. They are eventually caught around the time that Laura gets back, and then they decide that the best way to hide/escape would be to essentially take Laura hostage by diving into her mind and forcing her into a nightmare—similar to what happened to Azurill. Except this turns out to be a huge mistake on their part, since Laura's mind ends up so confusing and cavernous due to the fact that she's had so many reincarnations that the outlaw basically gets lost and trapped, necessitating outside help. This leads to Drowzee and Cresselia—who had been using their abilities to help catch the outlaw in the first place—to have to team up with a different outlaw with dream walking abilities and more familiarity with Laura's mind in order to successfully rescue her—and the perpetrator themselves, by this point. Unfortunately, Paula is, once more, stuck behind and unable to help her friend, which of course does not help her mindset—which is still recovering from her own stint at being this outlaw's victim, especially in light of how big a role blackmail played in this incident, considering her experiences with it on the recent expedition. Also not helping is the fact that she and Laura have somewhat of a bad history with the person teaming up with Drowzee and Cresselia, and has not forgiven him for what he did even though Laura has.**

**But the trio is successful, and decide to form a more permanent team together—partially with the intent that it will help the third member with parole/rehabilitation.**

**So at the moment this story begins, Team Rainbow is suffering from emotional exhaustion—Paula feeling useless and Laura just… a mess in general—and is only just starting to get back into exploration work, all the guild members are upset after having watched their friends suffer—and in some cases being to blame for some of the suffering—and are continually being struck with just how young these two actually are despite having been through so much. Drowzee is also still hanging around town, or at least close enough to it to visit frequently—both because he, too, needs to recover mentally from the rescue mission and because there are some logistical issues regarding his new team and circumstances that need to be finalized. Mason may or may not be helping with that, since he also has a history with the third team member, but one that is decidedly less fraught with tension and bad blood, on the whole—which may actually be one of the things that everyone else finds so surprising/unnerving about the whole situation, to be honest.**


	2. Talking Heads

Chapter Two: Talking Heads

…_and then, with a singular voice, Drowzee, Chatot, and the other apprentices all screamed, "_YOU DID **WHAAAAAAAT**_?!"_

This, of course, was the wrong thing to do when around small children, especially when said children are already on edge from suddenly finding themselves in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, and with no familiar comforts in sight. The little human girl—presumably Laura—had her hands occupied, so her only defense against the loud noise and tension was to screw her eyes shut and hunch over as much as possible, trying to use her shoulders to cover her ears. Paula, now an adorable pichu, had both of her paws free… but rather than use them to cover her large ears, she instead used them to give a death-grip on Laura's already rumpled collar and begin wailing in terror. Which, of, course, made the human carrying her almost drop her in shock… which set off another round of wailing at an even higher pitch. But it also succeeded in shutting everyone else up and making them cringe in shame for having frightened someone so little and adorable.

Everyone, except Drowzee, that is, who instead gave a low moan of "Oh no… not again…!" before he dropped the human's hand in favor of moving around so that he was standing in front of the two kids and tried to calm the little pichu down. "H-hey, it's… okay!" he said a bit frantically, making shushing noises and waving his hands in front of himself, as if he both wanted to scoop her out of the human's arms in order to better soothe her but was also too terrified to make the attempt. "C'mon, Paula, we're all really, really sorry for yelling and being noisy! We promise not to do it again, so there's no reason to—!"

But that, apparently, was also the wrong thing to say, as the poor thing's wailing did not cease, and she started adding in tearful shouts of "No! No! No!" in amongst her pitiful cries, her cheeks sparking a little as she shook her head, managing to clip the human's face with her large ears each time. Laura, for her part, did not seem to care about that overly much, and actually seemed to be less upset about the noise in general now that it was only coming from one source. The hand not holding the Tiny Mouse Pokémon—which she had used to cover one of her ears after it was finally freed from Drowzee's grasp—slowly came down and cradled the back of Paula's head, creating a more stable hold. She frowned, glancing briefly at the electric-type in her arms before turning her attention to Drowzee and his ineffectual efforts at trying to control the situation.

"I don't think you're helping, Mr. Drowzee," she told him seriously. Or at least as seriously as a small child—practically a toddler, really—could get. It was such an unexpected statement coming from such an unexpected source that Drowzee immediately shut up and actually reeled back a bit in shock. But she paid no further attention to him, instead turning back towards Paula. She jostled her a bit, startling Paula into a brief moment of silence, which Laura then took full advantage of by saying, "Hey. Hey, you… uh… is your name really Paula?"

Paula looked at her, blinking her teary eyes in surprise that the strange girl was actually asking her about her name, instead of just assuming that these strangers throwing it around were right about what it was. Which… yeah, they were, but Paula didn't know who they were; they didn't look like they were her parents' friends, or anything like the pokémon in the picture Ricky had sent of his team's fellow apprentices in the guild he was training at, so she didn't know how they knew who she was. And she didn't like that—especially since she didn't know where she even was, aside from "definitely not home." But… she guessed the girl holding her was okay, even if she looked weird. Her eyes were pretty, and it was nice of her to offer to carry her around—especially since that grate that Mr. Drowzee had tried to get her to step on earlier was really, really scary, and it looked like it would tickle her feet, or that she would fall through into the darkness below if she tried to stand on it. So, it would probably be okay to introduce herself.

She nodded a little, and then leaned up so that she could whisper, "Uh huh… I'm Paula… Paula Sparks," into her ear. Except she wasn't all that great at whispering at the moment, since her throat was all scratchy from all the crying and yelling she was doing earlier, so all of the other strangers probably heard her, too.

The human took that in stride. "It's nice to meet you!" she announced "And everyone here! Even if everyone's really confused 'n' stuff." At this point she dropped her head down to "whisper" into Paula's large ears and, "I don' think they know what's goin' on either." Again, everyone else heard this because she apparently wasn't any better than Paula was at whispering, even if she didn't have the handicap of a sore throat like Paula did. But after that "whispered" pronouncement, she paused, and then drew herself back up to her full height and said, rather bluntly, "My arms are tired. I'mma put you down now, 'kay?"

Paula, whose tears had mostly stopped by that point, frowned in obvious disappointment, her lips quivering into a pout, before she shakily nodded. She sniffled a bit after she was set down, and rubbed the tears from her eyes. But it wasn't as if Laura was abandoning her completely, since as soon as Paula sat down, the human immediately plopped down beside her. She then rolled onto her stomach, propped her head up with her hands, and began kicking her legs in the air behind her as she stared at the adults around her expectantly.

After a moment of their rather wary staring right back at her, supremely confused by the fact that she was the one taking charge of the situation, considering her older self's personality, Chatot awkwardly cleared his throat.

"…Right then," he began. "Now that we've all… er… calmed down a bit, I suppose that the first thing we should do is figure out what we know for sure about the situation at hand. So that would mean… Drowzee."

"Oh!" Drowzee tore his eyes away from the sight of the kids—Laura having pretty quickly decided that her arms were just as tired while supporting her head as they had been while holding Paula, and thus having rolled onto her back, limbs spread out like a star and head tilted backwards to watch the group from upside down while Paula basically faceplanted into her stomach, having decided that her fellow child would make a serviceable pillow—in surprise upon being addressed. "Yes?" he asked. "What, uh… what can I do for you?"

"Can you please tell us exactly what happened when you met up with Team Rainbow this evening?" Chatot asked. "And how they changed from their normal selves into… _this_?"

"Oh! Yeah, yeah sure, I can do that," Drowzee said. "I don't really understand it… and I'm not entirely sure _what_ happened to cause this… but this is what I saw: Like I said, I wasn't expecting to actually get here until tomorrow, but the journey took less time than I thought it would. Just as I was making my way to the crossroads, I happened to see Team Rainbow a little way away. I called out a greeting to Paula, and she answered back with…

* * *

"_Oh! Hey, Drowzee!" Paula called back, turning around from where she was leaning down and talking to her partner. Laura was, rather worryingly, sitting on the ground, head in her knees, and breathing somewhat heavily. She did tilt her head a bit and peek her eyes out at him, however._

"_Are you okay?" he asked in worry. "It's kind of late out…"_

_Paula nodded. "Yeah, we're fine," she affirmed. "We were on our way back, but we picked up _tons_ of cool treasure today, so our bag is heavier than normal and Laura just needed to stop and take a break for a bit."_

_Drowzee stole a glance at their bag where it sat on the ground near Laura's feet, the strap looped around her arm. While it did, admittedly, look a bit bulgier than normal Treasure Bags usually did, he knew that he'd seen her and Paula toting it around when it was _much_ heavier and fuller looking without breaking a sweat. Coupled with the fact that Laura still looked like she had bags under her eyes, even weeks after the whole Dreamy Blackmailer fiasco—and Paula, too, now that he got a bit of a closer look—and it painted a darker picture than what Paula was trying to describe. But given that the very presence of the eye-bags indicated that the two were likely not as relaxed or recovered as Paula's cheeriness was trying to lead him to believe, he decided not to comment. _

"…_Right," he said, instead of calling her out on the fact that all was not as fine as she wanted to make it appear. It would likely only make them try even harder and less successfully to convince him of the notion that they were fine. He compromised by suggesting, "In that case, you should definitely make sure to get a good night's sleep tonight."_

_ But this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Paula outright _flinched_ at the suggestion, growing pale at the thought, and Laura, while her reaction wasn't quite as extreme, still hid her eyes again and gave a mournful sigh._

_ "Do you… ah… do you want me to see if Cresselia can come over and help?" Drowzee said, frowning at the sight and feeling anxious to do something,_ anything_, to help his friends._

_ "No, no, really! We're fine!" Paula tried to assure him, frantically shaking her head as the color came back to her face._

_ "…It's okay if you still aren't. You two have been through a lot recently, and—"_

_ "I…" Paula trailed off with a sigh, a pained look on her face. "I—we… we know. And we know everyone is still really worried about us, but…"_

_ "…Even _he_ would say that nightmares at this point wouldn't help anything… and the only way we can think of to help with that is to make some better memories to dream about," Laura finished, raising her head to look at him straight in the eyes._

_ Paula winced at the reminder… but it was more of a resigned wince, if anything, and Drowzee supposed that if that was going to be her only reaction, then it meant things really were improving for her. At least a little bit. Also, the fact that Laura could actually talk about these things and look at him in the eyes again, despite how up close and personal he'd gotten with all her issues during his most recent trip inside her head could only point to good things. Still… if he'd learned anything from this most recent trial, it was that recovery was a process, and sometimes it was the little things that helped the most._

_ "Well, just so long as you're aware…" he began, "in any case, it's actually good that I caught you out here; considering that Cresselia was briefly a member of Team Rainbow, I wanted to see if you had any advice on how to balance the duties of a legendary with, well, everything else."_

_ The two looked relieved at the topic change. "Sure thing!" Paula said eagerly. "But, uh… I'm not sure how much help we'll be considering that the lack of a proper balance is what made her have to leave in the first place…"_

_ "Well, at least you'll be able to tell me what _not_ to do, then, right?" Drowzee said, a smirk on his face as he offered Laura a hand up. She took it, a small grin of her own appearing on her face. She then went to heft Team Rainbow's Treasure Bag over her shoulder, but Drowzee stopped her, making grabby motions with his other hand. "Nah, let me go ahead and carry it the rest of the way for you—consider it a bit of payment for the advice."_

_ Laura rolled her eyes, grin still on her face, before she handed the bag over, their hands briefly brushing as she did so. But just as she turned and began to take her first steps toward the crossroads, she suddenly stumbled, a wince crossing her face, and brought her hands up to her temples._

_ "Laura? Are you okay?" Paula asked in worry, scampering closer to her partner._

_ Laura made a noise of discomfort, but then she nodded. "D-Dimensional Scream," she explained, as her eyes began to glow and acquire the far-off look that had become so familiar._

_ Drowzee couldn't help but be a bit curious about the process. After all, he hadn't had as much experience with it as the others had, considering how often he was away from town—and since it apparently was this ability which had led to his capture during his outlaw days, he was doubly interested. Not that he was resentful of it, or anything, since he really had needed someone to put him on the straight and narrow. But he couldn't help but be curious about what, exactly, Laura had seen that day… he hoped it wasn't anything _too_ bad—he knows that he said some not-so-nice things to Azurill that had scared him, and that he was still ashamed of to this day. Then again, considering that he had literally wandered through some of the darkest, most painful and private parts of Laura's mind recently, he figured that if she had seen some of his more painful and embarrassing moments, it would only be fair. …That being said, though, considering that he was one of the last things she touched before this Dimensional Scream activated, and even he knew enough about the ability to know that touch was what triggered the visions, he really hoped that the vision she was having right now involving him wasn't _too_ embarrassing. Or that at least if was and involved something happening in the future, she would be able to describe it enough that he could mitigate the chance that anyone else would witness the embarrassing display. …Maybe in that case he could get her to describe it to him sometime when Paula wasn't around._

_ Of course, there was always the possibility that the bag had been the trigger, or that it was something else innocuous, so he supposed he would just have to wait and see. Luckily, it looked like the vision was ending now, so he wouldn't have to wait too long. …Then again, the fact that Laura's face was rapidly losing color, even as she blinked her way back to the present, did not bode very well…_

_ "…Laura? Are you okay?" Paula asked, catching the unease on her face. When Laura failed to say anything, she gave her shoulder a firm shake. "Laura?" she asked, a desperate note entering her voice. "What did you see?"_

_ The worry in her partner's voice finally broke Laura out of her stupor, and she gave a quick glance in her direction, before turning a rather haunted look towards Drowzee, and then her gaze dropped to her hands._

_ "…No… but that's…" she stumbled back a few steps, her limbs trembling as she covered her eyes. "That can't be…"_

_ "…L-Laura?" Drowzee called, starting to feel scared about what, exactly, his friend just saw in her vision. He took a step forward, hand outstretched as if he wanted to grasp her shoulder—whether to offer comfort or prevent her from moving away again, he wasn't sure—but before he could take another step Laura flinched back violently._

_ "L-Laura?!" he and Paula called out as one, obvious distress in their voices._

_ Laura gasped, her fingers parting briefly so that the two could see the lost gaze of her rainbow-colored eyes. But then she glanced between the two of them, winced at the looks on their faces, and then covered them again before taking a shaky inhale for courage and dropping her hands again to look Drowzee squarely in the eyes._

_ "You… I saw…" her courage briefly failed and she trailed off, looking lost, but it seemed it was only a momentary faltering, she quickly shook her head and took another inhale, steadying herself. "I saw you, Drowzee, along with Marill, Chatot, and Guildmaster Wigglytuff. You were on Mt. Bristle, and looking frantically for something … or, rather, _someone._ Because then you looked relieved, and shouted 'Hey!' and… a human girl turned to look at you. She…" but Laura trailed off here with a gulp, shaking her head and refusing to continue further._

_ "A… a human?" Drowzee asked, dumbfounded. The only human he'd ever seen outside of dreams had been Laura herself, and the circumstances surrounding _that_ had definitely been unusual. As far as he knew, humans were a rarity. So why would one go to Mt. Bristle? And how would they know him? And when exactly would this happen? It had to be sometime in the future, because, again, as of this moment he didn't know any other humans but Laura._

_ "But why is that so upsetting, Laura?" Paula asked, getting Drowzee back on track to the present._

_ "She…" Laura swallowed. "Her eyes… they were like mine," she whispered._

_ "No way! She had rainbow eyes too?" Paula gasped. "So that means… do you think she was maybe your successor?!" Drowzee whipped his head over to look at Laura as the horror of that possibility dawned on him as well. But apparently Paula didn't grasp the implications of that idea, since she continued with, "That's so cool that you get to see what she'll look like, and—" but then it finally dawned on Paula as well exactly what that meant, and her own face drained of color as well. "But… wait… in order for you to have a successor… that means that first you'll… y-you'll have to… t-to—!"_

_ She couldn't finish the thought. It was too horrible to even consider. But the implications lingered in the air: in order for Laura to have a successor, a future Rainbow Child… it meant that she would have to reincarnate. And in order for her to reincarnate… she would first have to, well… to _die_."_

_ "…How much time do you think we have?" Drowzee asked morosely. If the time he had left with his friend was now limited, then he wanted to know exactly what that limit was, so that he could be sure not to waste the now even more precious commodity. "And… and should we tell anyone else?" All three of them paused and winced at the thought. But then Laura turned thoughtful as she went over the vision again, trying to pinpoint any clues that would tell her how far in the future it occurred._

_ "I think… not long," was her deduction. "You and the others didn't look any older, so it couldn't have been—" she cut herself off, blinking at a sudden realization. "…You didn't look any older. Like… not even a little. But that girl had to be at least three, maybe four years old, so that means…"_

_ "S-So that means…?" Paula repeated, a bit of hope coming back into her voice._

_ Laura gave a sigh of relief, "She can't be my successor—not unless some sort of time travel is involved. Which… wouldn't actually be that strange, considering my own history, but…" she trailed off, a frown on her face that went unnoticed by her two friends who were busy giving twin sighs of relief._

_ "Don't scare us like that, Laura!" Paula complained._

_ "Seriously…" Drowzee concurred wholeheartedly. "Though… I guess we might still want to watch out if it _is_ a case of time travel. Those tend to be pretty serious. And if a little kid is involved this time, one who's even younger than you were the first time you did it…"_

_ Paula nodded in agreement. "That's a good point. I guess we should start getting ready to take care of a kid, then? Hm… I wonder what human kids need… I wouldn't want to end up in a similar situation to what happened with Manaphy right after he hatched," she shuddered a bit at the reminder. "At least we already have a human expert on hand, right, Laura?" she asked with a smile, moving closer to her with the intent of giving her a playful nudge. But before she could, she noticed the frown that was still on Laura's face._

_ "Laura? Is… is something else wrong?"_

_ Laura blinked, looking at Paula before rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Oh… no, not 'wrong' so much as…. 'strange,' I guess." At Paula and Drowzee's expectant faces, she continued. "The girl… now that I think back on it, she looked really… familiar."_

_ "You mean… aside from the eyes?" Drowzee asked._

_ Laura nodded. "Yeah. I could swear I'd seen her before… maybe in a picture? Or… no." Her mouth opened into a little "o" of shock. "She looked like a younger version of that statue… the one from Relatia's Cave…" Her brow furrowed. "But that statue… she was the very _first_. So how could… why would she be here? And _now_? And…" she trailed off, looking a bit sick. "I don't… I don't feel so good…"_

_ "L-Laura?" Drowzee said, starting to panic again and move towards her to try to help. "What's wrong? What just—?"_

_ "Ugh…" he suddenly heard from behind him, turning around just in time to see Paula crouch over, clutching her stomach. "Me neither…"_

_ "Paula?" Drowzee called, feeling suddenly frantic and stuck looking between the two girls, unsure of who he should help first, or what he could even do to help in the first place. The panic only grew when he heard what he thought was a scream echoing in the distance… and then Team Rainbow screamed as well as they were enveloped in a bright light. It was so bright, that Drowzee had to shut his eyes against it. And when he could finally open them again and look frantically for his friends… he visibly jolted back upon finding that they had changed._

_ Where once stood a pikachu was now an adorable, little pichu—laying on the ground, apparently unconscious. He stared at the sight in shock before slowly turning in search of his treecko friend… and found, instead, a little human girl with white hair, also lying on the ground._

_ …Well, he supposed that answered the question of where and when he would meet another human, even if he still wasn't entirely clear about what just happened. But before he had the chance to figure it out, the little human started to stir. _

"_Mm… H-huh?" She said, blinking her pretty, rainbow-colored eyes open and staring straight at him._

"_L-Laura?" he whispered in shock. "Is… is that you?"_

_The little girl cocked her head. "Who're you?" she asked, rather than actually respond to his question._

_Drowzee gulped. "It… it's me. Drowzee," he said. The girl simply cocked her head in the other direction. "Y-you know… your friend?" No comprehension. "The… the first pokémon you and Paula ever helped arrest?"_

_Then, Drowzee's heart plummeted when the girl asked "What's a Pokémon?" _

_But before Drowzee could even begin to react to the terrifying implications that question brought on, he heard some sleepy mumbles coming from where the pichu lay. He and the girl turned their heads towards her just in time to see her big eyes blink open as she sat up and started to look around. _

"…_P-Paula?" Drowzee asked desperately. _

_The little pichu nodded, breathing a small, soft, "Yeah" … before she flinched back and then promptly burst into tears._

_Laura frowned and crawled towards her while Drowzee panicked at the sight of the tears. "Wh-wha…? Wh-what's wrong? Why are you crying?!"_

"_I'm not s'pposed to talk to strangers!" Paula wailed. "Mommy'll be mad at me an'… an'…" she abruptly stopped crying, looking around and sniffling a bit… before the tears and wailing returned ten-fold and she wailed, even more shrilly "An' Mommy's not _here_! I WAN' MOMMY!" as she beat her tiny fists against the ground._

"_Oh… oh no…" Drowzee groaned, completely out of his depth…_

* * *

"…And that's when I decided to come to the guild," Drowzee finished. "It took a while to convince Paula that it was okay to follow me—I had to show her my new exploration team badge and everything, and then when we actually got to the guild, she was too scared to step on the grate… but she let Laura pick her up, and then… well, you know the rest." He shrugged. "As for what actually caused this… I have no clue. I'm assuming that the scream and the light were involved, but as for how…?" He shook his head and shrugged again.

"Oh… oh, golly…" Bidoof moaned from where he was standing by Chatot. Chatot covered his head with his wings and sighed. That was just… well.

"All… all right," he finally said, uncovering his head. "So what appears to have happened is that upon waking Jirachi—who had fallen asleep on the Beach during his visit with Bidoof, our illustrious guild, and Treasure Town in general—Bidoof triggered Jirachi's, shall we say, 'protocols,' for granting wishes… and then, due to stress and general worry for Team Rainbow's well-being… Bidoof inadvertently made a wish that Paula and Laura could be children again… which Jirachi then granted just as Drowzee met up with Team Rainbow near the Crossroads once they finally made it back from their longer-than-advised day of exploration. Does this sound about right?"

"Hey, hey! Don't forget that Jirachi passed out after granting the wish!" Corphish called out. "Unless maybe that's normal for him… Hey, Bidoof, did he do that last time he granted a wish for you?"

"N-no," Bidoof replied, cringing under the scrutiny. "I mean… I guess he might've gone back to sleep after I left… but he and I talked a bit first right after I made my wish to… uh," he coughed in embarrassment, declining to say out loud what the wish had been, even though most everyone had figured it out earlier. "But, uh… he didn't do any of that glowy stuff back then… and I'm not sure he actually granted the wish right away, so I reckon it's possible that if he _did_ wait until after I left to grant the wish, then he may have passed out then, too, yup yup." He frowned, remembering something, before adding, "Oh! But, uh… he did say this time that he 'overdid it' a little, and it seemed like he seemed real concerned about Laura—or maybe the Rainbow Child in general?—when he started glowing, so, uh…" he frowned and shrugged, "I don't really know, but I reckon it might be important?"

"Hm… perhaps," Chatot acknowledged, a frown on his face.

"Y'know… this human doesn't really LOOK like Laura did as a human," Loudred suddenly said. "Except for her EYES. Are we REALLY sure it's actually her?"

"That is a good point," Dugtrio agreed. "When Laura briefly assumed her human form, she was much taller… And her hair was brown, not white."

"Yeah, but our Laura is also older than this one, and Mason said that human kids are smaller than the adults are, so maybe their hair just changes color when they evolve, like the fur of an electrike when it becomes a manectric," his son offered. But then he got a confused look on his face. "Er… Dad? Do… do humans actually… _evolve_, when they become adults?"

Everyone pondered that for a moment.

"I'm… I'm not entirely sure about that," Chatot said, finally breaking the silence. "But… I also agree with Loudredl I'm not entirely positive that this is actually _Laura_."

"Oh, oh?" Wigglytuff asked. "So you don't think that these are the child versions of our friendly-friends Laura and Paula?"

"I'm fairly certain that the pichu _is_ Paula," his head of intelligence clarified, "but the human… if you recall Drowzee's story, she never actually _confirmed_ that her name was Laura. asked. And… she had no idea what a pokémon was. Given the story Laura told us in Relatia's Cave about her childhood and some of the… erm… _other_ things she revealed to me in that… _other_ cave the two of us were in recently," he paused here to shudder at the memories, "Laura lived with pokémon from a very young age—and even while she was still living with humans, she was, at least, aware of what pokémon _were_."

"…That's a good point," Chimecho agreed. "So, then, who _is _this human? And what happened to Laura?"

"I think… I think it _might_ still be Laura," Drowzee said. "Just… not _our_ Laura. And… maybe she doesn't actually go by that name?"

"Oh my gosh! What do you mean by that? How could she be Laura, but not Laura?" Sunflora asked.

"Laura—older Laura… our Laura? …you know who I mean—right before she was hit with that light, when she was talking about the human that she saw in her vision… after we established that it probably wasn't her next incarnation (and _thank Arceus_ we managed to figure that out), she said something about her looking 'familiar' and talking about how she 'looked like a younger version of the very first.' Since this human is probably the one she saw in her vision, maybe when she said 'first'… she meant her very first incarnation?" He looked around the room at everyone's stunned expressions. "If that's the case… if this is the very first Rainbow Child… and if she really is an actual _child_ right now… then wouldn't it make sense that she doesn't know what pokémon are? I mean… we don't really know how old she was during the Time Gear Legend, right?"

"…And in that case, considering the nature of reincarnation… she would, essentially, be our Laura, and yet… not," Chatot extrapolated. "That… makes a great deal of sense. Especially given that Jirachi, apparently, needed to use more power than usual to grant such a wish. I can only imagine how much power it would take to turn back time on so many separate lives…" he then paused, considering something else that made the theory even more likely. "…And if the child really _is_ at an age before she visited our world for the first time, then it also means that she is also at the age before she faced any real responsibilities as a productive or favored servant of Relatia… or from any responsibilities or consequences from helping to create and, ultimately, complete the Time Gears. Which would fit in perfectly with the _spirit_ of Bidoof's wish."

Again, there was silence as everyone soaked that in.

"OKAY," Loudred said. "So… now that THAT'S been established… what do we do NOW?"

"Oh my gosh, yes!" Sunflora agreed. "We know what happened now, and, why… but how do we _fix_ it?"

"I would assume Jirachi is the only one who can do that, meh heh heh… But since he is currently passed out…?" Croagunk shrugged, trying to affect an air of nonchalance to hide his worry—not that anyone actually bought it.

"So… what should we do in the meantime?" Chimecho fretted. "Can we… can we really take care of the two of them while they're like this?"

"Of course we can!" Wigglytuff exclaimed, sounding shocked that one of his apprentices would think otherwise. "They're our friendly-friends, after all! And they need our help!"

"And, hey, hey, since this is basically Bidoof's fault, anyways, we can just leave most of the hard work to him," Corphish reasoned.

Bidoof winced at the reminder of his role in matter, but agreed readily. "Yup yup… and I reckon I've got a fair bit of experience with kids that will come in handy, what with my little siblings and all. And," he shrugged a bit sheepishly, "maybe I'll be able to wake Jirachi up a little quicker? Since I'm apparently pretty good at that…"

"Great!" Wigglytuff declared.

"If you need any help, I'd be glad to do what I can," Drowzee offered. "I mean… since everything is still getting settled with the new team, I have plenty of time on my hands."

"Yes, that would help a great deal," Chatot agreed. "We do still have a guild to run, after all! As for what to do first… hrm… Bidoof, since this is, however accidentally it may have been, _technically _speaking _your_ fault…"

"Oof… you don't have to be so blunt about it…"

"…tomorrow you will be in charge of managing the affairs Team Rainbow left undone today, what with the late hour of their return—greeting the pokémon whose job requests they completed today, settling things with Officer Magnezone in regards to the outlaws they helped capture, sorting through and cataloguing the supplies and treasures they acquired… and so on and so forth."

Bidoof groaned at all the extra work, but readily agreed. "Yup, yup… I reckon that's fair… sigh…"

"Hey, hey! What should we do about the kids right now, though?" Corphish asked. "It's kind of late, and it's dark out, so it would probably be a bad idea to take them out to Sharpedo Bluff right now, right? If only because of all the attention they're sure to get at the moment."

"Oh my gosh, yes! And kids like them probably need early bedtimes, anyways!" Sunflora added.

"They probably haven't eaten yet, either… so maybe we should feed them first? And then figure out a place for them to sleep?" Chimecho asked, frowning, as she contemplated whether she knew any specifically kid-oriented recipes.

"Meh heh heh… But before all that… shouldn't we figure out where the kids actually _are_?" Croagunk suddenly put in, his laugh sounding more nervous than unnerving, for once.

"HUH?" everyone asked, turning towards him. He merely pointed to the spot where Laura (or at least, the girl who would one day become Laura, but who they were still going to call Laura in their heads for now because they weren't entirely sure what her name actually _was_ during that first lifetime) and Paula were sitting at the start of Drowzee's tale… the spot which had, upon further reflection, been suspiciously quiet, given the general nature of small, likely bored children…

…Only to find it empty. The children, being, again, small, and likely bored, had somehow wandered away unnoticed during the discussion, and now they had no idea where the duo went.

"AAAH! WE LOST THE CHILDREN!"


	3. Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 3: Calm Before the Storm

Laura had, at first, been highly interested in the adults' conversation. First of all, they were very cool to look at—so many wild and crazy colors! Some of them were furry, some were hairless, one had feathers, and one of them looked like she was part plant! She knew that they probably weren't the most interesting or "weird" beings out there, considering some of the stories Mommy told her about her work… but since she and Mason thought Laura was still too little to actually go out and help Mommy herself, she'd mostly only seen humans so far. She didn't really get why—the non-humans she'd seen so far hadn't been scary, and neither were these creatures; they actually looked like something that she might have made up herself while doing paintings of fantasy creatures as she tried to speculate on some of the crazier things that her family or the servants might have seen when they weren't at home.

The second thing that interested her about the adults was their reaction to her and Paula. They all seemed wary around the two of them—which wasn't anything new, since adults were always like that around her—but at the same time… she could tell that the wariness wasn't _of_ them, but _for_ them. For _both_ of them. They were genuinely worried about the two of them, and when Mr. Drowzee was trying to comfort Paula earlier, she could tell that it was, for the most part, because he didn't like that she was sad… no strings attached, no fear at her crying: he just genuinely wanted her to smile again. It was a very refreshing experience, even as the tension still present in the room nagged at her.

But as the conversation went on and the tension started to lessen… she found herself quickly becoming bored. She didn't know what Mr. Drowzee was talking about. He was throwing her and Paula's names around, but the stuff he was saying didn't make any sense. She'd never even met Paula before today, so how could they be part of a "team" together? And that bag that Mr. Drowzee had that he claimed belonged to the two of them looked way too heavy for her—and like it was supposed to go over the shoulder, rather than hanging sensibly around a waist like her pocket did. It was confusing, and boring, and it didn't seem like it was going to stop being that way any time soon.

With that in mind, Laura sat back up—slightly startling Paula as she did so, as she had forgotten the small Pokémon (who was maybe called a pichu, or something?) was using her as a pillow. Thankfully, this didn't make the yellow creature cry… although her eyes _did_ begin looking suspiciously shiny… so Laura had her full, uninterrupted attention when she quietly said, "C'mon, let's go explore."

Paula's ears perked up at the word and she gave an excited smile before her expression drooped again as she glanced at the adults. "But… would that be okay?" she wondered. "I don' wanna get in trouble…"

Laura cocked her head in confusion. Why would they get in trouble for exploring? But… if it would stop Paula from feeling so worried… "We won't go far; we won't even go back outside," she assured. She pointed at the hallway behind them. "We'll just go down there a little."

Paula glanced between the destination and the chattering adults, squinting her eyes in concentration as she debated on what to do. On the one paw, the possibility of making these strange adults mad. On the other paw, the chance to get a taste of the life Ricky wrote about in his letters. On the one paw, continued boredom. On the other… nah, who was she kidding—anything that prevented boredom automatically won out.

"Okay, let's go!" she jumped up in excitement, turning on her heel and rushing toward the hallway her new friend pointed out. "Race you!"

Laura started in surprise before a huge grin bloomed on her face and she giggled as she hurried after her fellow child.

* * *

Paula sighed and flopped backwards onto one of the beds they'd found, pouting in disappointment. So far, this whole "exploration" had been really boring. She'd lost the race despite her head start because her legs were so tiny compared to the… she thought the others called her a human?... child, so that meant she had to let her pick which room they would look at first after she'd skidded to a stop in the middle of the hallway upon seeing two doors right across from each other. The fact that she'd picked the room Paula would have wanted to pick first anyways—the one on the right—didn't make her feel any better, because a loss was still a loss. And the room turned out to be really _boring._ All it had in it were some straw beds, a water basin, and a boring book. It didn't even have any pictures in it or anything—which had instantly made her new friend lose interest in it—and it wasn't even written in any cool languages, like those footprint runes that Ricky had accidentally sent in last week's letter home. The handwriting was kind of terrible, too, so even though her parents and everyone always said how "advanced she was for her age" when it came to reading—she could read the entirety of her favorite "The Adventures of Mighty Magikarp" book, all ten pages, all on her own, after all!—she couldn't actually make out any words beyond "Bidoof's" and "Diary." Which meant that it probably belonged to the bidoof who was still talking with the adults in the other room, which made it instantly uninteresting because she was still mad at all of them since they were strangers.

The next room, containing the bed she was currently flopped down on, wasn't any more exciting. The only thing different about it was that it had fewer beds and a table instead of a water basin. It even had another boring book in it! And this one was even more impossible to read than the last one, since even though the handwriting was a _lot_ better, it was in that loopy-script that only mommies and grandmas used. Which made it doubly boring, and doubly impossible to read, even though she could admit it was also doubly prettier to look at.

…There was also a window in the room, which she guessed was kind of cool except for the fact that it was nighttime now and she couldn't actually see anything when she looked out of it.

She heard a soft "thump!" from the bed beside hers and looked over to see the human sitting next to her, playing in the straw a little bit and tying some pieces into knots.

"Hey, is your name actually Laura?" she asked, suddenly realizing that she'd never actually gotten confirmation of that fact.

The human dropped her straw in surprise. "Yeah?" she said, sounding confused. "Didn't you already know that?"

Paula puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, accidentally setting some sparks off from her electrical pouches. "Well Mr. Drowzee s_aid_ that, yeah, but he's a s_tranger_. Stranger aren't s'pposed to use your name until you or your mommy or daddy or brother or aunties or uncles or cousin Felix or his brothers an' sisters or cousin Bradley or _his_ brothers an' sisters tell them first," she huffed.

"Even if everyone already knows it?" the human asked, sounding awed by this new information.

"_Especially_ then!" Paula nodded decisively. "Otherwise they're being really rude!" But then she frowned, thinking about something, and amended, "Unless they're a teacher or Saint Christopher, Lord of the Delibirds—they know your name because they use _magic lists_, so that's okay."

"_Wow_…" the human breathed out in amazement, her eyes wide with wonder. But then she shook her head, coming back to herself. "Well… um… hi, I'm Laura!" she introduced herself, sticking out a hand for Paula to shake.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Paula said solemnly, carefully sounding out the words as she grasped Laura's hand in her paw and gave it a single shake. Then the two immediately dissolved into another giggling fit before racing out of the room and down the hall to the final, unexplored room at the end.

Honestly, neither of them had high hopes for its contents and were mostly continuing their "exploration" for completion's sake… and to continue avoiding the boring adults hanging out in the other room. This is why they were completely surprised when, upon entering, they found that the room was already occupied.

Paula immediately ducked behind Laura—who had stopped stock-still upon entering the room—and grasped some of the fabric covering the girl's legs as she peeked around them to get a safer look at the stranger occupying one of the room's two beds.

She lowered her voice close to a whisper as she asked her friend, "Who do you think they are?"

Laura, who seemed apprehensive, for some reason, and had brought her arms up to hug herself as she warily looked around the room, startled and looked down at Paula before giving the room a more thorough look and finally spotting what caught the pichu's attention.

"Oh…" she breathed out, seeming puzzled—but less wary. She tilted her head, thinking it over, and then dropped her arms and shrugged. "I dunno."

The two pondered the sight before them a moment more before they heard something that made them break into giggles again.

"They're _snoring_!" Laura exclaimed in glee, listening to the soft rumbling noise interspersed with gargling sounds and lip smacks from all the drooling this new stranger was doing.

"They're even noisier than Daddy is when _he's_ nappin'!" Paula added, the sights and sounds quickly dispensing her previous wariness about the stranger and causing her to step out from behind Laura. She crept closer to the strange pokémon, careful to be quiet so that she wouldn't wake him even as she was feeling braver and intent on getting a closer look. Laura quickly followed suit, dropping to all fours in a crawl so that she could be at a better eye level.

"They're the _bestet_ colors ever," Laura mused as she finally reached the pokémon in question and leaned in closer. "White, an' gold, an' bluey green…"

"Those are boring—orange is _way _better!" Paula interjected, shaking her head in a pitying manner.

Laura just gave a huff at Paula's naivety and rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the snoring creature before her. They shifted a little in their sleep, causing the tag-like features hanging off of the points on their golden head to come into easier reach of tiny, human fingers. "I wonder if its as silky as Mommy's dresses…" Laura wondered aloud as she reached out and made contact with it. But she was only able to give it a tiny poke—not nearly enough to give her any concrete data—before the creature's eyes squinted shut in minor annoyance and they shifted again, rendering the tags unreachable from her current vantage point. She pouted briefly at the lack of an answer, but then, strangely, her eyes widened in fear and she flung herself as far away from the sleeping pokémon as possible.

"L-Laura…?" Paula asked, startled by the sudden movements and becoming afraid herself. "What… what's wrong?"

"N-no…" the human groaned, clutching her head. "_No!_"

"_Laura_?!" Paula tried again, resorting to ineffectually shaking the girl's leg in an attempt to snap her out of whatever this was when the human became silent and unresponsive for a few moments. But then Paula fell back with a squawk of surprise when the girl's head suddenly shot back up and she looked frantically around the room, seeming a little dazed and pausing briefly in confusion on Paula before her gaze cleared again and settled on the sleeping stranger. Her features sharpened into an angry glare—one that was admittedly quite frightening for a toddler—and she opened her mouth, as if to give an angry shout. But before she could…

"Oh, thank Arceus! _There_ you are!"

* * *

_A few moments earlier…_

Chatot had been just as panicky as the others when they realized that the kids were missing, but he knew that panicking would get them nowhere. So, just as always, he strove to be the voice of reason and authority needed to get everyone back on track.

"EVERYONE_ QUIET DOWN_!" he ordered, his wings ruffling in agitation until everyone complied. "Panicking won't help us find them any faster! We need to think _rationally_ about this."

He glanced around the room, taking note of any exits or hiding spaces and thinking back on what he'd seen of the children's demeanors and abilities thus far.

"…All right," he began, addressing the assembled once more. "It is unlikely that they went far. Even if they did, somehow, make it all the way back to the entrance, from what Drowzee said, Paula would be unlikely to cross over the grate on her own. Laura would have to carry her—but Laura already said that she was tired from doing so earlier, and it is unlikely that she would be recovered enough to do so again, especially as she would have had to contend with climbing the ladders first. Therefore, only one person needs to check the upper levels; everyone else should split into smaller teams and make a sweep of this level. Laura is still big enough that she should be easy enough to find, but with Paula's smaller size it is entirely possible that she is hiding somewhere—"

But he was cut off when a faint "_No!_" sounded from the hallway to the crew rooms.

"…Or they could have gone off to explore the living areas," Chatot muttered, immediately dashing off towards the sound, the others following quickly behind.

As he'd hoped, the sight that met them when they reached Team Rainbow's old room was that of two children—along with their legendary guest, who was still in roughly the same position he'd been in when Chatot had seen him earlier.

"Oh, thank Arceus!" he breathed out, letting his barely contained panic melt away to relief. "_There_ you are!"

At the sound of his voice the two children immediately stopped what they were doing and looked over at him. Laura's expression went from angry to surprised, and Paula's went from nervous to… well, actually, her expression didn't really change all that much; it simply switched focus from her friend to him as she grabbed onto Laura's leggings once more and tried to hide behind the curve of the human's knees in order to get out of the sights of the multitude of strange adults in the hallway.

"You two can't just wander away like that," Chatot scolded, the relief at having found the two of them giving way to panic once more as his mind was assaulted with visions of what might have befallen the two, tiny explorers if they actually _had_ managed to make it outside the guild. "You need to ask permission, or to at least tell someone where you're going first!"

Paula looked like she was about to start crying again from the scolding, but Laura just cocked her head in honest confusion. "But how do I do that if I don' _know_ where I'm goin'?"

Chatot opened his mouth to respond, but then paused as he thought over her answer. He then dropped his head into his wings and gave a resigned sigh at the child's logic. "Just… _please_ don't wander off again without telling someone first, all right, Laura?"

Laura gave a very put-upon sigh before reluctantly agreeing. "Okay," she said, before suddenly remembering something and exclaiming "Oh! Oh, wait, no! You're not s'pposed to say that!"

Everyone just looked at her in utter confusion, so she huffed. "I didn't introduce myself yet, and neither did Mommy or… or any of those other people on Paula's list that I don't actually know, so you're not s'pposed to use my name!"

"Y-Yeah!" Paula said, suddenly perking up and gaining a bit of bravery at the fact that she was being better behaved than the actual adults were. "You're being _rude_ right now! An' that's _bad_!"

Neither of the girls noticed how hard the adults they faced were trying not to smile at how adorable the two of them were being—or at the subtle confirmation that, as weirdly coincidental as it was, Laura's name _was_ apparently still "Laura" during her first incarnation. Luckily, they didn't have to struggle for long as Wigglytuff, with his seemingly oblivious demeanor, immediately stepped up. With all seriousness and grace, he told the girls, "You're absolutely right! That was _very_ rude of us. Can you forgive us, friendly-friends?"

Laura scrutinized him for a moment before sharing a glance with Paula and nodding, if a bit reluctantly. "I _guess_ so," she said. "But only if _you_ tell me who all of _you_ are _first_."

"Oh, of course!" Wigglytuff assured enthusiastically before he began doing so, starting off with Drowzee, "This is Drowzee, a new explorer who is visiting my guild for a while…" and, after going through introductions for his apprentices and head of intelligence, finishing off with "…and I'm Guildmaster Wigglytuff!"

Paula gasped, her eyes sparkling with glee at the information as she finally realized something. "You're _the_ Wigglytuff?! An' this the Wigglytuff _Guild_?!" she demanded. At Wigglytuff's proud nod, she gasped again. "That's so… _so cool!_ _Way_ cooler than the dumb Torterra Guild that _Ricky_ goes to…"

"Oh my gosh, I've heard of that place!" Sunflora suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone present. "It's about as famous as the Wigglytuff Guild, but no outsiders really know how it runs. It makes total sense that the leader of Team Spark-Seed would have graduated from such a place!"

Paula rolled her eyes. "It's not that 'mysterious.' It's mostly just really boring," she stated bluntly. "They don' ever even get visitors like you do, who're just allowed to sleep whenever they _want_, even all the way through important grown-up meetings," she explained, pointing at the sleeping legendary.

The others followed her paw—except for Laura, who deliberately looked anywhere _except_ that direction—and winced at the reminder of how serious this situation was, and how they still hadn't decided how much to explain to the kids about what was going on.

"Ah… Yes, well, that's a bit of a special case," Chatot finally said, taking one for the team. "This pokémon is known as Jirachi… have you ever heard of him?" The kids shook their heads, and he winced; unfortunate, but not unexpected. "Well, Jirachi is known as the 'Wish Pokémon.' As the name implies, he sometimes grants wishes for others. But this ability takes a lot of energy, and so after he grants a wish he has to sleep for…" Chatot paused in his explanation, wincing again as he realized that he didn't know the exact mechanics of how Jirachi's powers worked, or how long he typically had to sleep in order to recharge. "Well… after he grants a wish, he has to sleep for… some period of time," he finally compromised.

"So… that means he just granted someone's wish?" Paula asked, while Laura pretended not to be interested in the conversation even though she actually was.

"Precisely," Chatot said, pleased at how clever Paula was for her age. "And the wish in this instance actually had to do with you two, Paula and L—" Chatot's eyes widened and he cut himself off so abruptly that he actually started coughing as he recalled that Laura hadn't actually introduced herself yet. "And the, er… the _young lady_ beside you," he recovered, rather lamely.

Laura, having caught the hasty correction, easily put two and two together, blushed, and mumbled out, "…My name's Laura."

Chatot gave a genuine smile at this, saying warmly, "It is very nice to meet you, Laura."

Laura gave a small smile back before giving a reluctant look in Jirachi's direction, sighing, and resignedly re-entering the conversation. "So… was the wish to bring us _here_ or somethin'?" she asked, "'Cuz this place doesn't look anywhere like where I was before…"

Chatot winced again—even as half of him wanted to smile at how clever _Laura_ was, as well, to have pieced that together the way she did. "Well… yes, in a manner of speaking," he said.

"Oh, okay," Laura said, apparently unconcerned by the fact that she had abruptly been yanked away from her home and brought to this strange place filled with strange creatures now that she had a little bit of an explanation for what caused the change in scenery and company.

Paula, however, did not take it nearly as well. "But… b-but," her eyes, predictably, filled with tears, "but if he's sleeping now… then does that mean we can't go home?!"

Chatot's feathers ruffled in agitation as he frantically looked around, practically begging for someone to step in and help him explain. But, really, how could _anyone_ explain the complexities of the situation? About the fact that it wasn't so much that the girls were simply in a different place than they were used to, but a completely different _time_ as well? _Should_ they even explain something like that? How much could toddlers really understand about such things?

"Well… er… not right now, no," Chatot finally had to say. Then, before Paula had the chance to really react, he hurriedly added, "B-but as _soon_ as he wakes up, you'll be able to!"

That sentiment did nothing to assuage Paula's feelings, as she immediately started crying again, causing fat tears to roll slowly down her cheeks.

"A-and in the meantime, we'll take good care of you here, in the famous Wigglytuff Guild! D-Doesn't that sound nice?!" he desperately continued, his voice growing louder to be heard over the pitch of Paula's wails… which only grew louder the more he continued talking.

Bidoof, who had slowly tried to move towards the back of the group in shame over the fact that he'd inadvertently caused his friend all this distress in the first place, couldn't help but look over at Jirachi in amazement. "Golly, I'm surprised that he can sleep through all this…" he muttered, not actually expecting anyone to hear him because of how loud the pichu was being.

Unfortunately for him, he happened to say that at the exact moment Paula paused to take a breath. This meant that she heard _exactly_ what he said, and it made the gears in her mind start turning…

"S-so… so do you think if I was even _louder_, he might wake up faster…?" she mused, her voice watery, as she turned a contemplative look towards the sleeping legendary. It was a look that filled the assembled with dread, especially when she opened her mouth, as if to take a deep breath in preparation for a scream the likes of which none had heard before—despite living in close quarters with Loudred.

But, luckily for them, their hearing was saved when, before Paula could actually make use of her breath aside from making herself well-oxygenated, Laura piped up with, "No, it's not the right time for him to wake up, yet."

"H-hey hey? And, how do you figure that, Laura?" Corphish quickly asked, attempting to prolong the conversation which had, at least momentarily, distracted Paula from her—admittedly reasonable—tantrum.

But Laura just huffed, puffing up her cheeks in annoyance and crossing her arms, refusing to elaborate.

"B-but… he _will_ wake up?" Paula demanded to know, her voice still wavering with unshed tears.

"Of _course_ he will!" Chimecho jumped in, quick to assure her. "But in the meantime… why don't the two of you have something to eat?"

"H-huh? Eat?" the child duo turned to her in surprise.

"Yes! Are you hungry? I know it's a little late right now… but a small snack should be okay, right?" she asked the two of them, giving an exaggerated, conspiratorial wink.

Paula sniffled a little, wiping her eyes as she considered the offer. "…C-can the snack be Yellow Gummis…?" she wondered.

"Absolutely!" She nodded, before turning to Laura and guessing, "Though, I suppose you'd prefer Plain Seeds for _your_ snack, right?"

Laura tilted her head. "What are Plain Seeds?"

Chimecho—along with everyone else, really—was so shocked at the girl's reaction that she nearly fell out of the air. It had never occurred to her that any iteration of Laura could possibly be ignorant of what Plain Seeds were. But upon further thought… she guessed it wasn't actually all that strange. After all, this version of Laura was from her very first life. She hadn't even known what pokémon were, so how would she have known about this world's native plants?

But she quickly pulled herself together enough to say, "Well… it's a type of food that I think you'll like. And if it turns out you don't, then I can get you something else, okay?" she added, despite being ninety percent certain that, lack of prior knowledge or not, there was no way an iteration of Laura would ever dislike the foodstuff even though literally everyone else found it disgusting. So much so, in fact, that a glance at Paula revealed the tiny electric-type making a disgusted expression, but otherwise making no comment or giving her friend any warnings in fear that if the human refused to at least try them, then maybe Chimecho would make _her_ eat them instead.

Laura seemed a little on the fence about it. "Is it really okay for me to eat something?" she asked. "I already had my meal today… won't that mess up your, um… that thing… when you write it down on your papers, and then Mommy comes an'… um…"

"No, no, don't worry—it'll be our little secret," Chimecho assured the human, winking again. Laura hesitantly nodded in assent.

Chatot sighed, glad that the drama seemed to be over for the evening, and that things could start winding down soon. "Yes, and while you two are eating, we'll work on setting up some more beds in here so that you and Drowzee will be able to go to sleep afterwards and—"

But as anyone who has ever interacted with small children could tell you, mentioning sleep was exactly the _wrong_ thing to say, as it set off another tantrum—for _both_ girls this time.

"_No_!" Paula screamed, dropping to her stomach and banging her little fists on the ground. "I don' _wanna_ go to bed! No! No! _Nooo!_"

Laura went in the opposite direction, springing up and stamping her feet as she shouted, "I don' _wanna_ stay in this room! No! No! _Nooo_!"

Nothing anyone could do, no promises of any snacks or assurances that the beds were really, really comfortable and that they could get them tons of blankets and pillows to use calmed the girls down until Drowzee finally, desperately, offered, "H-how about after you finish your snack, I tell you a bedtime story?"

Paula's tantrum paused, and the sudden lack of noise make Laura's abruptly stop as well. Paula lifted her head a little, bringing one of her wide, wet eyes into view. "…Can I pick the story?" she asked.

"Yes, of course, any story you want," Drowzee sighed in relief.

Paula sat up fully, her tantrum completely forgotten. "I wan' my second favorite one! The one about the dis… uh…" she paused, screwing up her face in concentration as she carefully sounded out "the dis-em-bodied krabby claw that grabs you and squeezes until you die!" she demanded, sounding extremely proud of herself for getting the pronunciation correct.

Drowzee's face fell. "O-oh… That's… that's not really… that's _supposed_ to be a horror story, so maybe that isn't the best…" he trailed off, feeling mounting horror as he saw Paula's face screwing up in displeasure once more and the tears starting to fall from her eyes again. "I-I mean of _course_ I'll tell you that story!" he said, backtracking immediately. "It… it really is a good one! …Even if no one actually finds it scary," he finished in a mumble too small for Paula to hear over her sudden exclamations of joy and demands that Laura go get a snack with her so that they could finish quickly and get to the storytelling.

The rest of the night passed without much incident. Snacks were had by all, and, to no one's surprise, the first incarnation of Laura adored Plain Seeds just as much as the incarnation they were more used to—if not more, since they actually had to caution the child more than once to slow down her rate of consumption before she started choking. Guest beds were quickly made and lined with a multitude of pillows and blankets, and the girls got into them more or less willingly—even if Laura did pause first to stare mulishly at Jirachi for a moment before pointedly turning her back on him once she was actually in bed. A not-actually-all-that-scary scary story was told, and the only screams heard were those of laughter at just how bad the story was at being a member of its particular genre.

When the girls fell asleep shortly after the tale's conclusion, everyone figured that, just maybe, taking care of these child-versions of their friends wouldn't be as hard as they'd feared.

Unfortunately for them, it turned out that the relative ease of this night was just the calm before the storm.


End file.
